Today, information or accessible resources like programs or services are often organized using Web technologies like portals and hyperlinks. Typically, portals use templates for displaying information of other functions like sub-program calls. The available functions, programs and information are displayed at specific fields or places within the template.
When (Web) applications are visited by users in a portal, the applications are usually presented in a similar fashion to all users accessing them. But of course, not every user is interested in the same content or the same services, and hence, the overall structure/layout may satisfy the needs of one user more than others.
Personalized application user interfaces take single users interests and preferences into consideration. Based on various metrics, such as user profile data, user interaction behavior, and so on, user models may be derived that reflect interests and preferences.
Additionally, contextual data, like current location, current date or time of access, may be taken into consideration as interests usually vary in different situations. User and context model data can finally be leveraged to realize a personalized adaptive user interface wherein the user interface presents information fragments or application being of interest and where information fragments or applications being of little interest will not be displayed or less prominent.
For example, in an e-learning system, a historic behavior of a user could be used to visualize the user what has not yet been learned. In such scenarios, lections or units not yet accessed and thus not learnt may be presented while those, already finished, may not be presented in the portal.